2019 FOH BLIND TASTING CIGAR NUMBER 2

[First Lady]

 

2019 FOH BLIND TASTING CIGAR NUMBER 2 - your pick is due on the 25th October  [email protected]

 

When you are ready....you can review it here on this thread.  Please do not state what you think it is 

I will post the cigar up two days after the 25th October :-) 

Talk to you all soon 

 

Lisa

[prodigy]

I smoked number 2 the other day. Bland, lifeless, zero flavor outside of cardboard and mild tobacco. Kept waiting for anything resembling a flavor to emerge and it never came. That being said, I think I know exactly what it is. I've had the same experience with the same cigar too many times to count.

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[Gamehawker]

I am not in on the blind tasting but if I had to guess since it is bland it would be the HdM Epi #2.

[lovethehaze]

4 hours ago, prodigy said:

I smoked number 2 the other day. Bland, lifeless, zero flavor outside of cardboard and mild tobacco. Kept waiting for anything resembling a flavor to emerge and it never came. That being said, I think I know exactly what it is. I've had the same experience with the same cigar too many times to count.

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Sounds like scdlh experiences for me. Just wrong size. Lol. 
I may not even smoke it is this is the case and just guess. Probably have a better chance this way. 

[GWG]

I was close but a few things got me headed in the wrong direction this year. As I sit here and think about last years winner and some of the many very experienced smokers, I realize I was just not there yet. Their experience and notes of the smokes they had were the difference in their choices and it shows. I am closer than I was but still guessing a bit to much. cant wait for two and three. 

[Riverstyx]

18 hours ago, prodigy said:

I smoked number 2 the other day. Bland, lifeless, zero flavor outside of cardboard and mild tobacco. Kept waiting for anything resembling a flavor to emerge and it never came. That being said, I think I know exactly what it is. I've had the same experience with the same cigar too many times to count.

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I feel the exact same away about everything you said.  Well, actually the first few puffs were enjoyable and then it went lifeless.

[Guantanamera]

23 hours ago, prodigy said:

I smoked number 2 the other day. Bland, lifeless, zero flavor outside of cardboard and mild tobacco. Kept waiting for anything resembling a flavor to emerge and it never came. That being said, I think I know exactly what it is. I've had the same experience with the same cigar too many times to count.

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Seems like so far we've all had the same experience. Hell on consistency! Very unlike Cuba.

[Meklown]

The cigar for me was very flavorful, the first 1/3 I could have sworn it was one cigar with coffee, leather, soil, but the 2/3 I got lots of thick honey notes complemented with some grass - that doesn't correspond with the typical flavors of that marca/vitola. 

Started to second guess myself and ended up thinking it could be any 1 of 4 choices. Submitted a guess nonetheless, would be funny if the true result was neither of the 4 ?

[MigsG]

1 hour ago, juri said:

smoking #2 now ... i KNOW ive had this cigar before unlike #1 witch tasted nothing like a upmann this on im getting fruit favor and i didnt get a dud like #1 

is the best way to win this contest is to find the people who didnt get duds and go by their results? IDK... few people gave good clues in their review of the first one and i wish i just went with that

ether there that or someone who is lucky and doesn’t get any duds, I can see a experienced smoker of Cubans getting 5/5 if they were all PSP grade 

I had mine today too. On the contrary, I had a bold flavorful cigar. No fruit flavors at all.  Deep rich flavor. From start to finish.

 

[nKostyan]

I can see a experienced smoker of Cubans getting 5/5 if they were all PSP grade 

The beauty of it is that Rob picked up an unusual cigar. Unlike official Habanos competitions, we are given the opportunity to accurately determine the format using any means. We are given the opportunity to smoke test cigars from our stocks. But we are not given ordinary cigars, we got unique, having deviations from the total mass. It's beautiful!

[krish the fish]

I'm smoking #2 right now... I had a pretty strong guess based on size and wrapper shade on inspection. I have a box of fresh cigars of my hunch that I might have to smoke after this to prove or disprove my thoughts, but I think I have smoked a lot of this marca in the past. No dud for me; between the flavor and the body I am hoping I can identify this as well as I did #1.

Having a large variety of petit coronas of many marcas helps me a lot deciding between a few. Worst case I'll have to smoke some more cigars this weekend to get to a definitive conclusion

[MigsG]

11 hours ago, krish the fish said:

I'm smoking #2 right now... I had a pretty strong guess based on size and wrapper shade on inspection. I have a box of fresh cigars of my hunch that I might have to smoke after this to prove or disprove my thoughts, but I think I have smoked a lot of this marca in the past. No dud for me; between the flavor and the body I am hoping I can identify this as well as I did #1.

Having a large variety of petit coronas of many marcas helps me a lot deciding between a few. Worst case I'll have to smoke some more cigars this weekend to get to a definitive conclusion

You mean robustos, right?  Rich coffee, soil, honey. Sounds and tastes familiar, right? Wink wink ?

[nKostyan]

The girls sent me hearts

 

About cigar: two profiles

- first half: grass, butter, salt, sweet and sour;

- second half: wood, espresso, ash, nut, sweet and sour molasses, salt.

This time there's DNA, but the two of them.

Again the fork on the two brands...

 

[Markspring1978]

On 10/3/2019 at 6:20 PM, juri said:

I can see a experienced smoker of Cubans getting 5/5 if they were all PSP grade

I seriously doubt that poor quality samples are being sent for this tasting. I doubt even more that even the most experienced smoker on this forum could go 5/5. If a very experienced smoker could go 3/5, I would be very impressed. 

Let’s be realistic. All these leaves are coming from the same island with suspect quality control, and they are all rolled by the same company. This isn’t like comparing a Whopper and a Big Mac. 

I know I’ll take some fire for this, but I wouldn’t be surprised if a factory rolls 10k robustos, half get Epi2 bands, half get D4. Same cigar, different marketing, one white band, one red. Tobacco leaves are tobacco leaves, all the “blending” narrative is, IMO, BS for the mass produced sticks. 

And if you think that “PSP” eliminates duds, you are in for a rude awakening. 

[MD Puffer]

9 hours ago, Markspring1978 said:

I know I’ll take some fire for this, but I wouldn’t be surprised if a factory rolls 10k robustos, half get Epi2 bands, half get D4. Same cigar, different marketing, one white band, one red. Tobacco leaves are tobacco leaves, all the “blending” narrative is, IMO, BS for the mass produced sticks. 

I agree blending isn’t an exact science, but I do believe they have expert blenders attempting to maintain consistency enough so that they can ensure each respective marca’s flavor profile is at least in the same ballpark.  These little blind tastings could actually demonstrate that since there are only a given number of any regular production vitola. If it’s truly as you suggest, then the guesses should be an evenly random distribution across each marca (statistically insignificant variations aside). So for this cigar, there should be 20% of the guesses going to each marca (since there’s only five regular production cigars in this size). Now there are biases, etc that can be argued but if you can get enough participants (n) then you could account for them and normalize your results. 

Reading these threads before smoking introduces a bias as well- I won’t be doing it again.  People are saying they tasted such and such.  One person’s such and such is suggestive of blank and another person’s such and such is suggestive of blank.

So I tried to forget what I read on this thread and lit up. In the first third I thought to myself, “It’s not blank, blank, or blank.  I don’t know about that one dude, but I didn’t taste such and such.”  That left two.  Finishing up the first third, I felt supremely confident it was blank.  Suddenly, I drew this fleeting and wonderful such and such that it threw me for a loop.  The second third was uneventful and there was little evolution and it wasn’t reminding me of blank any more.  It still didn’t taste like blank, blank, or blank.  Was it blank instead?  Honestly, it didn’t really taste much like blank either.  So, I’m sticking with my first guess and will submit blank as my answer.

Naturally, it had to start raining right after I lit it up.  Meteorology doesn’t appear to be an exact science either since the forecast didn’t call for rain until tomorrow.

 

[Markspring1978]

2 hours ago, MD Puffer said:

I do believe they have expert blenders attempting to maintain consistency enough so that they can ensure each respective marca’s flavor profile is at least in the same ballpark

I want to believe. Experience has dictated otherwise. I will concede that I don't think that I am on the upper end of the population that is endowed with an abundance of taste buds. For me, the roller and quality of the leaves to begin with seems to make a bigger impact on my experience.

[prodigy]

I agree blending isn’t an exact science, but I do believe they have expert blenders attempting to maintain consistency enough so that they can ensure each respective marca’s flavor profile is at least in the same ballpark.  These little blind tastings could actually demonstrate that since there are only a given number of any regular production vitola. If it’s truly as you suggest, then the guesses should be an evenly random distribution across each marca (statistically insignificant variations aside). So for this cigar, there should be 20% of the guesses going to each marca (since there’s only five regular production cigars in this size). Now there are biases, etc that can be argued but if you can get enough participants (n) then you could account for them and normalize your results. 
Reading these threads before smoking introduces a bias as well- I won’t be doing it again.  People are saying they tasted such and such.  One person’s such and such is suggestive of blank and another person’s such and such is suggestive of blank.
So I tried to forget what I read on this thread and lit up. In the first third I thought to myself, “It’s not blank, blank, or blank.  I don’t know about that one dude, but I didn’t taste such and such.”  That left two.  Finishing up the first third, I felt supremely confident it was blank.  Suddenly, I drew this fleeting and wonderful such and such that it threw me for a loop.  The second third was uneventful and there was little evolution and it wasn’t reminding me of blank any more.  It still didn’t taste like blank, blank, or blank.  Was it blank instead?  Honestly, it didn’t really taste much like blank either.  So, I’m sticking with my first guess and will submit blank as my answer.
Naturally, it had to start raining right after I lit it up.  Meteorology doesn’t appear to be an exact science either since the forecast didn’t call for rain until tomorrow.
 

There are a few more than 5 that fall into this category though.

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[Markspring1978]

7 hours ago, juri said:

if that were the case it would invalidate the entire contest and cuban cigars would become a joke

This site encompasses some of the most dedicated connoisseurs of Cuban Cigars and less than 20% of the people who are participating in this contest answered correctly for the H Upmann.

If multiple robustos are the same but have different bands, that doesn't necessarily make them a joke. Personally, I greatly prefer Cuban tobacco to others, regardless if the band is white or red.

I am not making  any sort of allegation that all CCs are the same. Clearly there are some big differences and we all have our favorites. A Sir Winston isn't a RyJ Churchill. My point is that there are some vitolas that are mass produced, most notably the robusto. Many are rolled in the same factory, with the same rollers. I just find the "blending" voodoo to be a bit suspect. And the fact that the guesses for cigar #2 in this competition are going to be all over the map, with a majority of dedicated smokers on this site getting the guess incorrect, I think it proves my point.

[MD Puffer]

1 hour ago, prodigy said:

There are a few more than 5 that fall into this category though.

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Damn you! There’s blank which I didn’t even think of because of its misleading name, and then there’s blank which everyone raves about and is real hot right now but I only tried one a couple of years ago that was gifted to me and I though “meh”, and then there’s blank which I’ve never tried- and I don’t think I know of anyone who has- surely they wouldn’t put blank in the mix.  Ok, 8? so random distribution would be 12.5% unless I’m missing any. Still wouldn’t change my choice however.

[nKostyan]

Did anyone notice on arrival that the cigar was a little boxpressed?

[Ritch]

2 hours ago, nKostyan said:

Did anyone notice on arrival that the cigar was a little boxpressed?

Mine wasnt box pressed

[dominattorney]

7 hours ago, nKostyan said:

Did anyone notice on arrival that the cigar was a little boxpressed?

Mine was, slightly. Not sure how much to read into based in this.

[Islandboy]

Smoking mine now, have to say it’s not very enjoyable. And it’s not an array of flavors, or lack thereof, that I recognize at all. There are a few robustos I have not tried, so I suspect it’s one of them, or just a dud. 

I will say I’ve tasted a similar grassiness mixed with off-putting sourness and dryness from a box of Hermosos #4’s I have, but it’s hard to believe this swelled in size that much. 

Edit: I considered chucking this a few times as the finish is quite dry and irritates my throat a bit, but I’m soldiering through. Now in the final third it’s turning quite peppery. Needless to say I haven’t a clue. 

[nKostyan]

Edit: I considered chucking this a few times as the finish is quite dry and irritates my throat a bit, but I’m soldiering through.

I weighed the cigars before and after acclimatization-number 1 and number 2 did not increase the weight.

[MigsG]

2 hours ago, Islandboy said:

Smoking mine now, have to say it’s not very enjoyable. And it’s not an array of flavors, or lack thereof, that I recognize at all. There are a few robustos I have not tried, so I suspect it’s one of them, or just a dud. 

I will say I’ve tasted a similar grassiness mixed with off-putting sourness and dryness from a box of Hermosos #4’s I have, but it’s hard to believe this swelled in size that much. 

Edit: I considered chucking this a few times as the finish is quite dry and irritates my throat a bit, but I’m soldiering through. Now in the final third it’s turning quite peppery. Needless to say I haven’t a clue. 

Sounds like we had two different cigars.  Mine was rich, flavorful, and not at all dry.  It turned harsh at the end of the final third, but I attribute that to age.